64th Congress 
2d Session 


HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 


j Document 
f No. 2003 


THE IMMIGRATION BILL 

H. R. 10384 


MESSAGE 

FROM THE 

President of the United States 

TRANSMITTING 

HIS VETO ON THE BILL (H. R. 10384) TO REGULATE 
THE IMMIGRATION OF ALIENS TO, AND 
THE RESIDENCE OF ALIENS IN, 

THE UNITED STATES 

to*. fiLu. U ‘ - A 



JANUARY 30, 1917.— Ordered to be printed 


WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 
1917 









In the House of Representatives, 

January 30 , 1917. 

Ordered , That the message of the President transmitting his veto 
on the bill H. R. 10384, the immigration bill, be printed as a House 
document for the use of the House. 

Clarence A. Cannon, 

Journal Cleric. 

2 


D* ot D* 

FEB 3 191 1 


VETO MESSAGE—H. R. 10384. 


To the House of Representatives: 

I very mucli regret to return this bill (H. R. 10384, “An act to 
regulate the immigration of aliens to, and the residence of aliens in, 
the United States”) without my signature. In most of the pro¬ 
visions of the bill I should be very glad to concur, but I can not rid 
myself of the conviction that the literacy test constitutes a radical 
change in the policy of the Nation which is not justified in principle. 
It is not a test of character, of quality, or of personal fitness, but 
would operate in most cases merely as a penalty for lack of oppor¬ 
tunity in the country from which the alien seeking admission came. 

. The opportunity to gain an education is in many cases one of the 
chief opportunities sought by the immigrant in coming to the United 
States, and our experience in the past has not been that the illiterate 
immigrant is as such an undesirable immigrant. Tests of quality and 
of purpose can not be objected to on principle, but tests of opportunity 
surely may be. 

Moreover, even if this test might be equitably insisted on, one of 
the exceptions proposed to its application involves a provision which 
might lead to very delicate and hazardous diplomatic situations. 
The bill exempts from the operation of the literacy test “all aliens 
who shall prove to the satisfaction of the proper immigration officer oh 
to the Secretary of Labor that they are seeking admission to the United 
States to avoid religious persecution in the country of their last 
permanent residence, whether such persecution be evidenced by 
overt acts or by laws or governmental regulations that discriminate 
against the alien or the race to which he belongs because of his 
religious faith.” Such a provision, so applied and administered, 
would oblige the officer concerned in effect to pass judgment upon 
the laws and practices of a foreign Government and declare that they 
did or did not constitute religious persecution. This would, to say 
the least, be a most invidious function for any administrative officer 
of this Government to perform, and it is not only possible but prob¬ 
able that very serious questions of international justice and comity 
would arise between this Government and the Government or 
Governments thus officially condemned should its exercise be at¬ 
tempted. I dare say that these consequences were not in the minds 
of the proponents of this provision but the provision separately and 
in itself renders it unwise for me to give my assent to this legislation 
in its present form. 

Woodrow Wilson. 


The White House, January 29 , 1917. 


3 






